Strawberry Whoopie Pies

I have never made whoopie pies before, but saw these on Pinterest and wanted to try them out for Valentine’s Day.

The recipe I found called for a box of strawberry cake mix. You can get almost anything you want…at any hour…in NYC, with the exception of certain grocery store items. Our grocery stores are small and do not carry the immense variety you see in the suburbs. As there was no strawberry cake mix, I decided to use fresh strawberries in the recipe.

The batter smells delicious when you use fresh strawberries! I did not add any food coloring to these—the subtle pink is all from the strawberries. 

I used only egg whites, as I wanted the batter to be really white to showcase the pink of the strawberries. 

Alex loves helping stir. 

Once I scooped out the batter, I used the spoon to try and make them more uniform circles. 

Ooops! He got a little overzealous—I guess this batch will just be for us. 

Enjoying the fruits of his labor. 

These have a very subtle strawberry taste. 

Andy said these are one of his favorite cookies of all times. I will definitely be making these again!

 INGREDIENTS – COOKIE PORTION

1 box of white cake mix

4 egg whites

1/4 cup of vegetable oil (I use olive oil in almost everything I do)

1 tablespoon of water

10 fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and pureed (I used my Cuisinart to do this)

INGREDIENTS – FILLING

2 sticks of butter, softened

3 ½ cups of powdered sugar

1 tablespoon of almond extract

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, water and oil.  Stir/whip together until smooth.
• Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper (or spray them) and then use a tablespoon to scoop out onto the sheet.
• Bake for seven minutes, transfer to a wire rack and cool. 
• For the icing, whip together butter, sugar, and almond extract until light and fluffy.
• Put icing on the bottom part of the cookie, top with another, similar shaped cookie. I used a pastry bag to pipe the frosting on the cookies, but you can just as easily use a knife. 

My Pinterest image.

White Chocolate Raspberry Scones

As you may know, I adore all things related to afternoon tea, including scones. And these may be my favorite scones ever. Yes, they are decadent, but they are worth it!

I used fresh raspberries in the recipe, which made the dough a bit stickier, but super moist once baked.

   

Ingredients

2 cups of all-purpose flour (plus additional flour when shaping the scones)

2/3 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

8 tablespoons of unsalted butter, frozen

Approximately 15 fresh raspberries

Half a bag of white chocolate chips

1/2 cup sour cream

1 large egg

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Grate butter into flour mixture on the large holes of a grater; use your fingers to work in butter (mixture should resemble coarse meal). Stir in white chocolate chips and then raspberries.
• In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and egg until smooth.
• Stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.)
• Divide the dough into two halves. Place one half on a lightly floured surface and pat into a circle about 3/4-inch thick. Use a sharp knife to cut into eight triangles; place on a cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Repeat with the second half of the dough.
• Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes.
• With remaining white chocolate chips, melt in a double boiler (or, do what I do, which is put water in a skillet and then a glass bowl in the skillet). Place melted chocolate into a pastry bag, with just the very tip of the bag cut off, and drizzle over the cooled scones. 

First Time on Skis

I don’t remember the first time I went skiing—I think it was when I was a child in Michigan. We didn’t really get into skiing as a family until we lived in Norway; while there, we went skiing every weekend (whether it be downhill or cross country). But, after we left Norway, we had very brief stints in Michigan and Illinois (my dad was military)—too brief to ever ski, and then we moved to Arizona, so skiing became increasingly more difficult to do.

When I first met Andy, he would tell me about how he basically lived on the mountains in Vermont. That first Christmas we were together, he outfitted me in boots and skis and took me to the bunny hill. I was terrified—it had been about 15 years since I had been on skis. I have since grown to love skiing—I will never be the best one out on the mountain, but I have come leaps and bounds since that first run with Andy. 

Andy, on the other hand, is magnificent—he is almost poetic. I make him wait at the top so I can ski down, just so I can turn to watch him come down the hill. He is so fluid and effortless, and I get immense pride and satisfaction in watching him ski.

Andy always maintained it would be a great activity to do when we had a family. And, he was right. We took Alex out on skis for the first time this past week. We had a blast! We found a great little hill just an hour outside of NYC at West Point—it is only open to the public on Fridays, and it is a gem. It was perfect for what we were looking for, as it had a bunny hill (and a bigger hill so Andy and I could take a few solo runs). 

Video links:

• Alex’s first run – from Andy’s perspective (with his awesome new camera for Christmas).
• Alex’s first run – from my perspective.

The lodge 

Getting ready for his first run. 

The J-bar didn’t thrill him—he is not too excited to be skiing right here. 

Once he got going, though, he had fun. 

Little break with mom after his first run. 

Back at it. 

Alex only went skiing for about 30 minutes; after that, we enjoyed a hot dog in the lodge. When everyone was done skiing, we headed home, stopping for pizza. It was a magical day, and both Andy and I were counting our blessings!

Painting Away Our Winter Blues

In Alex’s French class, they let him paint with his hands, his elbows, his face if he wanted to. He adores this—he loves being covered in paint. This goes against every bone in my body—as a self-proclaimed neat freak (okay, to those who know me, an OCD neat freak), the thought of getting paint everywhere in my home makes me shudder. But, he loves it. And I do believe in the power of art helping a child’s mind develop creativity and thoughtfulness. 

So, I decided before bath time, I will let him paint the way he wants to—let him explore and have fun with it, without me standing there with a mop and sponge ready to clean it all up.

I love the colors in this photo—this was all him. 

 

Pure joy. 

I have mentioned before that having a child makes you remember who you were before you became an adult; having a child also, for me, forces me to step outside of my comfort zone. I decided to get in on the action and let him paint my face. He loved it. 

His finished work: I look a bit like a horror picture (good thing it washed off easily). 

We all laughed, we all had fun and no furniture was harmed in the process. A great winter activity. 

Afternoon Tea

I recently had a girlfriend over for afternoon tea. My menu consisted of:

• White chocolate raspberry scones (drizzled with white chocolate)
• Raspberries
• Brownies with chocolate chunks
• Strawberries (again, drizzled with white chocolate)
• Strawberry whoopie pies

As Valentine’s Day is around the corner, I used lots of pink for the food and decorations. And, as my friend loves chocolate, I also wanted to incorporate chocolate in the menu.

We had a great time just catching up. I find that hosting tea is so much less stressful than trying to get together at a restaurant, where you are worried about taking too long at a table (not to mention the added stress of having a child with you and trying to get together around nap times). At home, we could talk as long as we wanted (and Alex could sleep as long as he needed to)!

I love hydrangeas and the pink of this one was so beautiful.

Recipes to come.